1. Sue Ann Heatherly, Ron Maddalena National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Quiet Skies Project
Sue Ann Heatherly, Ron Maddalena
National Radio Astronomy Observatory

2. This series of images of Orion is a tip of the hat to Globe at Night, and also shows the universe revealed by radio astronomy.

3. In fact this image of a large swath of sky tells much of the story of radio astronomy. In this one image are distant galaxies and quasars which contain super massive black holes in their cores, supernova remnants that may harbor pulsars, sites of active star formation. In fact the blueish color of the background is no accident, but an indication of faint radio radiation permeating the entire universe… the cosmic microwave background.

4. Why Dark Skies/Quiet Skies?
Optical and radio astronomy can be done from the ground!
Credit: Windows to the Universe, thence to NASA/STSCI/JHU

5. Atacama Large Millimeter Array
NRAO Telescopes
Very Large Array
Green Bank Telescope
Very Long Baseline Array
Atacama Large Millimeter Array
We’ve made use of this window over the last 50 plus years

6. Got a cell phone on Titan?
Why quiet skies?
Got a cell phone on Titan?
We can hear you now!
This signal was captured by the GBT when the Cassini/ Huygens probe descended to Titan’s surface in the signal transmitted was about as strong as a cellphone signal.

7. Why quiet skies? 0.00000000000000000000000001 watts/m2/Hz
Our unit of apparent brightness in radio astronomy is the Jansky = 1 x 10>-26 w/m>2/Hz

8. Spectrum use chart. From http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.html
Not much set aside for radio astronomy – and of course astronomers want to study objects at frequencies NOT assigned to radio astronomy as well!

9. Quiet Skies Project and IYA
Two Flavors:
1. Be an Interference Detective : AM Radio Scavenger Hunt of any interior space.
Can be “Try it at Home”, or guided activity.
Limited to AM Frequencies.

10. Quiet Skies Project and IYA
2. Quiet Skies Kits:
Contain sensitive instrument which can detect RFI at Frequency range of MHz ( scientifically interesting).
Loan program. 500 units x locations throughout IYA.
Measurements reported to NRAO data base resulting in…
the radio version of…

12. Anatomy of a Quiet Skies Detector